Stay Dead This Time Chapter 06
“You vile woman!” Vivienne finally abandoned every last shred of composure and lunged at me, fists swinging.” You’re trying to destroy my son! You planned this from the very beginning!”
I did not move. The head maid behind me had already stepped forward and caught Vivienne, holding her firmly in place.
“Mother, you have it wrong.” The smile left my face. My voice was level, without so much as a ripple. “I’m not the one who destroyed him. It was you, Daphne, and Stellan himself.
“The three of you schemed to fake his death. You wanted to force me out of my position as the lawful wife and turn my son from a legitimate heir into a bastard. Did any of you think to ask my opinion?
“Did any of you stop to think about what would happen to me? A woman, alone, with a child to raise. How was I supposed to survive?
“No, you did not consider that. The three of you simply assumed that Elara Renworth would do as she was told, that I would take whatever was done to me without complaint, and that I would hand everything over to Daphne with a smile.”
By the time I finished, my eyes were stinging. However, I held the tears back. I had cried enough for a whole lifetime in the one before this. In this life, I would not shed a single tear for any of them.
“So, do not blame me.”
I turned and gave my instructions. “Seal the coffin, use three iron locks, and move it back to the chapel. Mrs. Montclair Senior is tired. Escort her to her chambers and make sure she stays there. As for Dr. Pemberton…”
I looked at the old man. He was shrinking back with his chin tucked, doing his best impression of a man who had nothing to do with any of this.
“Dr. Pemberton, about that death-feigning potion… I’ll be settling that account with you soon enough.”
The color finally drained from Dr. Pemberton’s face.
On the fifth day, Daphne had been locked in the crypt for four days and four nights. She had finally broken.
The maid I sent to watch her came back to report. Daphne was drifting in and out of consciousness, had not eaten or taken a drop of water, and kept mumbling that she wanted to see me.
I had no intention of going. However, after a moment of thought, I changed my mind. Some things were better said face-to-face.
Daphne was being held in the side chamber next to the crypt. Five days without food or water had stripped away every trace of the beauty she once was. Her lips were cracked and raw, her complexion had gone a sickly yellow, and the black dress she was wearing had turned dirty.
When she saw me walk in, she struggled to sit up on the cot, but she was too weak and collapsed back down.
“Elara…” Her voice was raw, scraped down to almost nothing. “Elara, I’m begging you. Please let me go.”
I sat down across from her and said nothing.
“Elara, I know what I did was wrong. I truly do.” Daphne wept as she spoke, the words coming in broken fragments. “I shouldn’t have… I never should’ve gotten involved with Stellan behind your back. But Elara, we’ve
been family for so many years. For the sake of all those years, can’t you forgive me just this once?”
Family… For the sake of all those years…
What a lovely thing to say.
In my previous life, she never once thought about family. The first thing she did after marrying into the Montclair, household was have me moved to the servants’ quarters.
My meals went from proper dishes to whatever scraps were left over. My clothes went from silk to rough-spun cotton. When Ansel fell ill and I tried to call for a doctor, she blocked it and said, “He’s just a bastard’s son. Not worth the trouble.”
Back then, she never once thought about us being family.
“Daphne.” I looked at her calmly. “Do you understand the position you are in right now?”
She went still.
“The king has already granted you the title of Lady of Fidelity. The entire kingdom knows you’ve offered to die alongside Stellan. If you do not die, that is treason against the crown. The entire Montclair family, and your Langford family along with it, will all pay the price.”
The color bled from Daphne’s face, inch by inch.
“No… That’s not possible… Stellan told me that once the seven days were up and he woke, everything would be fine… He said he’d marry me, that he’d make me his lawful wife…”
